Las Vegas route over Hoover Dam bridge coming soon

Hoover bridge, among highest in world, set to open in November

More than five years after work began, the Hoover Dam bypass bridge is nearly complete and drivers will likely begin crossing the span in early November.

When the bridge opens, motorists traveling between Phoenix and Las Vegas will save an average of 17 minutes on their journey and potentially hours under the worst conditions. Truckers will be spared lengthy detours. All travelers will be treated to breathtaking views.

The Federal Highway Administration has not picked an exact opening date for the $114 million span, officially named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. At a sneak preview Thursday to showcase the completion of the bridge deck, officials announced an opening gala on Oct. 16. A federal spokeswoman said the bridge will open in early November.

Workers are finishing the last details on the bridge as well as the highway connections and access paths for walkers, gawkers and bicyclists. The work includes installing a pedestrian railing, building a parking lot for visitors, and adding lighting, striping and crash barriers to the approach roads.

Visitors can expect a feast for the eyes. At approximately 890 feet above the Colorado River, the bridge is unofficially the second-highest in the United States and the 14th in the world, according to highestbridges.com, a website devoted to the most extreme spans on the planet. The Hoover bypass bridge is also the highest arched span in the Western Hemisphere, with dizzying views of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the sheer Black Canyon gorge.

Thousands of tourists will likely stop at the bridge every year. But bungee jumpers won't be allowed, said Bob McKenzie, a spokesman at the Nevada Department of Transportation, which will oversee the daily operation of the bridge.

The original completion date was delayed by two years. Wind gusts toppled rigging, another accident killed a worker, and construction was complicated by high winds and heat and building on sheer rock faces.

The bridge is part of an overall $240 million bypass project, which includes new, gently curving and sloping highways on both sides of the gorge. The Federal Highway Administration says the work will finish within budget.

The work is intended to eliminate sometimes long traffic delays over the Depression-era Hoover Dam caused by a steep, tightly winding single-lane road that passes over one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. The new bridge will also allow freight trucks to take a more direct route to Las Vegas. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, trucks were detoured 70 miles downriver.

After the new bridge opens, the existing Arizona approach to Hoover Dam will close to the public. That means motorists won't have to wait at a Homeland Security Department checkpoint, which will shave more minutes off their trip. But it also means tourists can reach the dam only from the Nevada end.

In related work, during the first half of this year, the Arizona Department of Transportation blasted with dynamite through rugged terrain south of the federal project. ADOT plans to open 15 miles of new four-lane divided highway leading to the bypass in time for the bridge opening, replacing a stretch of two-lane road. The $71 million project features Arizona's first overpass designed to help bighorn sheep move safely between habitat bisected by a major road.

ADOT says that the work is ahead of schedule and that the new road will be ready for traffic by November. For the next two months, travelers can expect 15- to 20-minute delays because of the roadwork.

The work is part of ADOT's ultimate goal of converting all of U.S. 93 from Wickenburg to the Colorado River into a four-lane, divided highway.

Powerful interests in Arizona, Nevada and California have been lining up to designate the steadily improving route a future Interstate 11 as part of a goal to create a major north-south trade corridor that would boost the region's economies.

Landowners, developers, regional governments, transportation departments and lawmakers have been drumming up support in Congress to study the route and spend millions on an environmental study.

Gus Gomez (left) and Arturo Caro work on the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. After more than five years of construction, the Hoover Dam bypass bridge is listed as the second-highest span in the U.S. and 14th-highest in the world.